On March 31, in accordance with the agenda of the plenary session, experts and representatives of specialized ministries and agencies spoke at the parliamentary hearings on the concept of a draft Law On Investment Activities in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Chairman of the People’s Council Vladimir Bidyovka acted as the moderator of the hearings, which Alexey Sukhinin, envoy from the DPR Head to the People’s Council, opened with his report.
“A legislative mechanism for regulating investment activities must be well-balanced and transparent, it must establish “the rules of the game” clear to investors. It must also minimize bureaucratic and administrative burdens. When forming a model of investment policy, it is necessary, first of all, to be guided by the experience of the Russian Federation. It is necessary to provide a legislative framework for instruments of protection and preservation of investments, guarantee the rights of entities of investment activity, including safeguard against illegal expropriation. Besides, it is necessary to uphold the parity of rights of domestic and foreign investors. Investment legislation must be bound up with other sectors. In this regard, the legislative regulation of investment activities will inevitably lead to the introduction of necessary amendments to sectoral laws,” DPR Head’s envoy to the People’s Council Alexey Sukhinin said.
“The Permanent Working Group for Investment Raising has considered three draft laws regulating investment activities. The draft Laws On Investment Activities and On Investment Activities in the Donetsk People’s Republic meet the highest degree of elaboration and compliance with the modern realities. Therefore, the Permanent Working Group for Investment Raising recommends that the two specified draft laws be taken as the basis for drawing up the final draft law on investment activities. With that said, the above draft laws require further elaboration,” noted Larisa Kostrovets, the Rector of Donetsk Academy of Management and Civil Service under the DPR Head and Coordinator of the Permanent Working Group for Investment Raising.
In his speech, DPR Minister for Economic Development Alexey Polovyan highlighted that the main objective of the draft law involves forming a legal framework for investment activities in the Donetsk People’s Republic, drawing up investment projects, coordinating and approving them, granting investors preferences and guarantees of investment activities, effectively monitoring and supervising the implementation of obligations assumed under investment agreements, ensuring the unity, consistency and internal coherence of the regulatory framework for investment activities, as well as harmonizing with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
In its content, the draft law is a multidimensional regulatory legal act that codifies conditions defining the basis of investment activities and relations in the field of investment, rules that establish the system and powers of executive authorities, government agencies in the field of investment, as well as the rules that regulate the procedure of control over compliance with obligations under investment agreements.
With regard to guarantees for investors, the draft law sets forth the following terms:
— parity between domestic and foreign investors;
— stability of investor rights;
— taxes and duties do not change during the payback period of an investment project;
— protection against expropriation;
— assistance to the Interdepartmental Commission in disputable issues of investment activity.
According to Alexey Polovyan, one of the main positive aspects of the draft law is that investment projects are broken down into priority and preferential categories.
“This categorization allows encouraging potential investors to increase capital investments in light of the need to obtain greater privileges and preferences from the state,” the Minister highlighted.